meeting a local - Situ(O.gibbsi or O.tetricus)

[broken__dori]

This is some awesome posting !!!! I'm so interested in keeping up on this thread, please keep the updates quite intriguing
Thanks so much for joining Tonmo !

-Ryan

 

[haggs]

D, it takes about 2 minutes to walk back to the car and in that time the wind and the rain had taken the last bit of warmth out of me (I'm still yet to wear a wetsuit even in these conditions, it's not really that bad, the water is around 22 and the air roughly 24 degrees) next to where I park the car is a tap where I then rinse off my camera, mask and snorkle. Then I usally rinse off my face, before reaching for a towel and hopping into the car for the 3 minute drive home and the waiting shower.

I don't mind getting cold now and again...... it makes you appreciate being warm, if you know what I mean.

Ryan, thanks for your interest, some times after you put up a new post you sometimes wonder if anyone is really reading it with any interest. I appreciate your comments and support.

 

[DWhatley]

Should you feel under appreaciated, you can always click on the subtopic for the thread (Diving and Ceph encounters) and look to the right of the thread listing to discover that the thread has been viewed 2,800 times. I am certain that count is not just my facination . You might also note that it is one of the highest read posts on that forums current page in spite of the fact that you have not been actively posting for a bit.

 

[haggs]

Well another day and another search, I decided to go and check again the weathers a little better but it’s still coolish for this time of the year. So I did the usual wade through the channel across to the island, thinking that I would be the only one silly enough to be out there but it was not to be. I saw footprints in the sand leading to the pool, it turned out to be a friend chasing fish for his tank.

After a brief chat I told him what I was after, some more pictures of the Occies and that I hadn’t seen any for a while, then I found out why. He has been chasing them away with the handle of his net because they kept coming out after him, mmmm I wonder if that’s my fault for feeding them. Anyway I had a little chuckle to myself. He told me that there was a bigish one at the other end of the “long pool”. So off I went and started searching until I saw a little jet of sand coming out from behind some rock. Yes ..….. but, it had to be a small one (my friend is a “true fisherman” who tends to stretch his stories a bit) to fit into the hole. After a few minutes and a small crushed mussel she moved to the front of the hole and reached out where I was able to take a couple of pictures. No further than half a metre away I found a “milk spot” cowrie, not that it’s relevant to the occie but they do look nice.

to be continued in the next post......

 

[haggs]

After finding this one I went and check the Zoo hole, this is the main big pool that I normally speak about, so named because it’s full of Zoanthids. I checked the usual hiding places but still nothing…. as I was getting out I saw a couple of empty shell off to the left where there normally only a great wall of Zoa’s.

So I put the mask back on and climbed back in, and to my surprise here’s an half grown octopus under a ledge, I’m not sure of “which” octopus it is but it did reach out and touch my finger within a few seconds of my approach. I had a little startle though, my bare feet were between some rock that’s covered with weed, and then I felt a sharp little bite on my foot.

After quickly checking, I found it was only a rock shrimp pulling out the hairs on the top of my foot. So after several pictures I left her in peace.

 

[haggs]

Back to the long hole I went, upon reaching the shallow end of the pool. I placed my hand near the den of the new Occie, out came an arm followed by another… then another, until it had reached my hand that was holding the camera. It then let go of my fingers and decided that it wanted the camera wrist strap, and the pictures tell the rest.

 

[haggs]

after realising that it wasn't as tasty as the mussel it let go and headed back to its den.

 

[DWhatley]

After a brief chat I told him what I was after, some more pictures of the Occies and that I hadn’t seen any for a while, then I found out why. He has been chasing them away with the handle of his net because they kept coming out after him, mmmm I wonder if that’s my fault for feeding them. Anyway I had a little chuckle to myself.

I would have laughed so hard that I would have likely drown! At least he was not doing what most fishermen do to pesky octos! Aquarium keepers make better fishermen I think. One day Neal and I are coming going to see that pool!

 

[broken__dori]

Haha seriously, fisherman scurrying off some octo wondering why its coming after him, I would have had quite the chuckle as well !

-Ryan

 

[haggs]

D, if you are serious about visiting “your” pool make sure you book early to get “best special, bargain price, one off tour” haha, just let me know when. November and December are the months to avoid, as that’s when there seems to be no occies around.




There won’t be any pool hopping for me for a few days or so, yesterday we had a bit of a down pour and it continued most of the night along with winds reaching 60plus kph. For the 24 hours starting at 9am Tuesday morning till 9am today we had 493mm or rain, our back yard was just a sheet of running water.

Not that I’m complaining our neighbors across the road are on the lower side so they wore the brunt of it. They too were lucky it didn’t quite reach their front door. Today we went to work and were sent home as the forecasters were predicting more of the same for tonight and tomorrow. So we went for a drive down to the headland and took these few pictures. It will either clean out the sand or totally fill the pools time will tell.

 

[haggs]

The owner of this 4X4 was sitting on the roof of his car when the fire brigade rescued him, the water was up to the top of the car roof.

 

[DWhatley]

We will book early but it won't be anytime soon I'm afraid . No job, no money and no backup is so unpleasant and not where we expected to be at this point in our lives.

It seems very strange to me to see bright green grass next to saltwater. Most of my saltwater time is in FL and the majority in the FL Keys so I just don't see that. Our lake (very large man-made reservoir) has been the lowest it has been since it was built (50 years) for the last two years and our cove that had never gone below 12' was dry much of the time. They are letting our less water now and the cove is no longer dry but you can send some of that rain this way anytime (not that I am a fan of rainey gloom, just gloomys and water in my backyard.)

I hope this pulls out the sand and doesn't fill the pool with it, but you have a long time to use your pail and shovel to get it back to normal for us

 

[haggs]

Yesterday afternoon I got a chance to head back to the island for an hour, the tide was so low that the “long pool” was almost dry. As I walked to the far end where the occie lives I thought that it would have had to of moved, it was so shallow.

I saw the milk spot cowrie sitting high above the water in a shadowy, protected area. Then I turned and looked for a sign that the octopus was still there. It was …. Within a few seconds of rubbing the rock just outside its den, out came one of her arms. The water was too shallow to even put the camera into so these pictures are taken through the water from a distance of 10cm.

I then went out to the zoo hole. The sand is still a problem covering the majority of the used dens, in one corner I found a small “dog shark” that someone had caught and chucked into the pool so I caught that and released it as it would have died in there.

I walked around the pool twice looking from different angles trying to find signs of life, but was unable to find anyone home.

 

[haggs]

"D". I forgot to mention about the number of Sea stars that were right next to it's den.

 

[DWhatley]

Haggs,
Is this one really tiny or are they all very small and this is the first time the perspective was so obvious?